Sensational pulp piracy of this early Sherlock Holmes story, featuring gloriously melodramatic and inaccurate cover art.
Good only.
Price: $200.00
Part of Westbrook's late dime novel series of "Great American Detectives." As Glen Miranker recounts in his Grolier exhibition, "Sherlock Holmes in 221 Objects": "Pirate publishers ingeniously exploited the popularity of Sherlock Holmes to sell books. Pricing was paramount, but eye-catching cover art was a crucial come-on. These Westbrook covers can't be topped for color, drama, and their total disconnect from the titles' storylines. [...] No couple came to blows in A CASE OF IDENTITY."
Read more: Edward T. LeBlanc Memorial Dime Novel Bibliography, "American Detective Series"; Miranker, Sherlock Holmes in 221 Objects.
Cleveland: The Arthur Westbrook Company, [circa 1920s]. 7'' x 5''. Original color pictorial wrappers. Though no provenance markings, from the library of the noted actor and Sherlockian Curtis Armstrong. Publisher's ads at rear. 115, [9] pages. Leaves toned and brittle. Front wrapper partly detached but holding; rear wrapper detached, with offsetting from previously applied adhesive.
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